Health Connections

If there is a silver lining in the national epidemic of opioid abuse and addiction, it may be the existence of an effective antidote for overdoses.

Local health officials are working to boost its availability for emergency situations.

The “Opioid Epidemic” we are now experiencing was the unwitting result of the American medical establishment’s efforts to prioritize pain management, explains Sonoma County Health Officer Dr. Karen Milman.

Only after these drugs were in widespread use was it discovered that there were, in fact, some very serious addictive side effects that are tied to the way that opioids work at the molecular level.